Children's Health

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When Should Kids Learn to Read, Write, and Do Math?

Your child starting to read is just one of many educational milestones to watch for as a parent

WebMD Archive

When kids learn writing: Milestones that matter

Sheldon H. Horowitz, EdD, director of professional services for the National
Center for Learning Disabilities, says, "Writing is a high-level skill, not as
simple as sitting down with pencil on paper." It requires:

fine-motor skills to use a pencil or pen

understanding that letters make up words, and words represent things or
ideas

organizational skills

grammar, spelling and punctuation skills

different kinds of memory

Horowitz tells WebMD that it helps for kids to learn the foundation of
writing at the same time as they learn how to read. That's because reading and
writing complement each other, says Steve Graham, EdD, professor of special
education at Vanderbilt University in Nashville. "Each helps facilitate the
learning of the other."

Reading problems are almost certainly also a sign of a problem with writing,
says Graham, although good readers will not always become good writers.

Graham says that milestones are less standardized for writing than they are
for reading, but the following markers may be helpful.

Ages 6-10: learning to write

Kids learn to:

write consonant sounds by the end of kindergarten

write legibly and with ease, with an understanding of words by first
grade

write stories with a beginning, middle, and end and with a character,
action, setting, and a little detail by second grade

Ages 11-13: learning to write

Kids learn to:

use the correct grammar, punctuation, and spelling most of the time

become more fluent writers, increasing in speed; handwriting becomes more
automatic

use varied sentence structure, including simple, compound, and complex
sentences

write different kinds of compositions such as reports and persuasive
writing

use references from various sources to write compositions

use the computer for writing and research

When kids learn math: Milestones that matter

Math also requires a wide range of skills and involves a broad vocabulary
and variety of concepts. Math skills often build on one another. Some kids are
strong in some types of math but weak in others.

Think back: did you have an affinity for geometry, or algebra? Were you a
whiz at fractions but winced each time you faced a word problem? Chances are
your child has math strengths and weaknesses as well, although they may be
different from yours.